Year level: F – 2
Strand: Digital Technologies Processes and Production Skills
Collect, explore and sort data, and use digital systems to present the data creatively (ACTDIP003)
Link to resource: http://popplet.com/
Cross-Curriculum Priorities and General Capabilities:
- Literacy
- Numeracy
- Information and communication technology (ICT) capability
- Critical and creative thinking
- Personal and social capability
Classroom Activity: This interactive and engaging software is a great resource for modern classrooms. Students can work independently or in small groups to create mind maps on a given topic and then submit their work via Popplet.
Popplet is great for group work as teachers are able to click on the ideas listed in order to identify the contributions that students have made.
By: Jessica Owsiak
Mind mapping with Popplet seems like a really useful tool to use in the classroom. It can be used on the computer or the ipad which gives the teacher opportunities to be more flexible during lessons and the students opportunities to use different multimodal tools. I like that it has simple tools to navigate around and create mind maps which could be done independently.
I used Popplet with my 2-3 students whilst on ATP – and they loved it!
It is great for the visual learners, and I found that all the students really enjoyed creating their mind-maps.
It allows for a wide range of achievement. For example, some students created simple but effective mind-maps, whereas others went above and beyond what they had to do, adding lots of additional information and even asking to work on it at home.
The students added images and photographs to their mind-maps. Some students drew the images themselves, and others screen-shot images from Google and included these as well – the results were very impressive!
I think this would be a great resource to use in the classroom. This resource would be a great benefit to those students who are visual learners.
I do believe, however, that this resource could be used beyond the Year 2 classroom. After completing my ATP in a high school setting I would definitely see students engaging well with this resource to create simple effective mind maps.
I think it would work well in both a group setting or individually, using either an iPad, laptop or computer which allows for great flexibility.
In agreement with the previous comment, I believe that Popplet is a fantastic resource for learner of all ages. This resources is easy to use from the students perspective and effective for teacher management and assessment. Popplet is an engage means to express ideas and use creative and critical thinking skills to map concepts. Popplet can be used for quick activities or be continually adapted over a series of weeks or months.
I have also used Popplet in my Prac classroom for Year 2/3s and have seen how useful the tool is. It is an excellent resource which allows for manipulation and alterations to be made during the planning and conducting stages of units of work to accommodate to various learners. However, I also believe that the resource can be extended out to middle primary years. This tool may be very useful in the teaching of HASS in terms of Timelines, chronology, terms and concepts.
I have used popplet with year 5 students. Its a fantastic app for students in differentiated groups to use as well. There are no limits to how much information can be included so extensions can be designed accordingly.
I was introduced to popplet on my ATP earlier this year with my year 4 students and found it very versatile across learning areas and for students with learning difficulties. I also got the opportunity to see other year groups around the school and how they adapted the Popplet application to suit their classroom and age appropriate needs. It is a great application that provides opportunities for diagnostic and formative assessment and can be used independently or in small groups with possibilities for linking multiple devices with teacher access, which is great during class discussions and interactive brainstorms. I particularly liked it as an extension task for my class with their spelling having them group their words according to sounds and then add images and videos to match the sounds. Great resource!
This is an amazing resource for all students in particular students who have learning difficulties and those who are visual learners. I have used this throughout all PRACS and found that all students were engaged when using it.
I discovered Popplet whilst on my ATP this year and used it extensively in my Year 2. The students loved it, even though it took a while teaching them how to use it. It’s a great resource to use both individually and collaboratively, and I found hooking it up to the IWB was highly engaging for the students.
I’ve just recently discovered a new app, Skitch, in which you can annotate over photos and create mind maps and brain storms over them, choosing how you want to connect the components of your mind map (as opposed to being confined to one format in Popplet). I remember my students complaining about not being able to write over photos that they imported into Popplet because they had to import it into a bubble, so Skitch might be more efficient for tasks that require photos and annotations (like research projects). (It’s free too!)
Overall, a great resource, thanks for sharing!